Faster Than Speed scored strong points all across the World Series in the Interlagos season finale. In the World Championship, very promising performances ended with disappointing retirements. Making his FTS debut, David Dominguez, together with Martin Andrasi (WC Ace), Sven Hesse (WS Pro), Alberto De Juan (WS Advanced), Juan Nicola and Tomas Marino (WS Amateur), all scored good points in Brazil.

World Championship

Twister Racing's Mikko Puumalainen, on loan to FTS for the Brazilian round, inmediately showed his speed over the FTS-P9 as he set the 3rd fastest time in Q1. Meanwhile, Patrick De Wit set the 15th quickest time, while Giuseppe Marconi and Roy Wachtmeester, making his WC debut as a recognition for his 2009 performances, just missed the cut with the 19th and 20th laptimes respectively.
In Q2, Mikko was fastest, after driving a fantastic lap. It was also the first time this year that an FTS car topped a WC Qualifying session. Patrick qualified in a disappointing 17th.
During the race-fuel Q3, Mikko secured a very strong 5th on the grid.

The race start was, however, extremely frustrating. After a bad start, it quickly became evident that it wasn't going to be Mikko's day. Suffering from a timing glitch, Mikko's laps went unnoticed by the official timing, leaving him with no chance but to retire from the race. Both Mikko and the team were really disappointed, as we firmly believed he had the pace to battle for victory. Despite the issue, FTS thanks the recently crowned WS Ace champion for his fantastic performance and Twister Racing for allowing him to drive the FTS-P9!

Patrick made a good start as he climbed several positions in the opening laps with an agressive fuel load. However, his race went downhill after a spin dropped him back to the rear end of the field. A few laps later, he retired after suffering a big shunt in Mergulho corner. For the FTS NetRex guys, it was unfortunately also a double retirement. Giuseppe suffered an engine failure once again after running strongly, while Roy drove solidly on his WC debut, coping with the pressure without problems. Unfortunately, his race was ruined after colliding with Bekker's stricken car in the middle of the racing line.

A disappointing way to close an up-and-down WC season, with a very strong first half followed by a very unlucky final part of the year. FTS finished the championship in 7th position.

World Series Ace

Spaniard David Dominguez made his FTS and WS Ace debut in Interlagos. The WS Advanced race winner coped very well with the jump and just missed out on Q2, setting the 11th fastest time during Q1. Team-mate Martin Andrasi, meanwhile, qualified 14th.

In the race, David drove a very strong race, driving very consistantly despite the little preparation without driving aids. While initial traffic cost him some time, he finished his first WS Ace race in a solid 8th position. We thank Rice Racing for allowing David to drive the FTS-P9 in this race.

Martin, meanwhile, was recovering very well after having to pit for a new wing on the opening lap. Unfortunately, an engine failure ended his race early, but he was lucky to just complete 90% of the winner's laps. He was classified in 10th place, scoring points in the process.

World Series Pro

Sven Hesse qualified 8th after setting the 6th fastest time in Q1. He drove a solid race, defending himself very well in a multiple-car battle. Unfortunately, a long first pitstop put him at the back of the battling group, undoing all the good work he had done before. He still finished in the points in 11th position.

World Series Advanced

Roy Wachtmeester, making his comeback after a few absences, was 4th fastest in Q1, while team-mate Alberto De Juan made it through this time, with the 8th quickest laptime.
In Q2, with heavy fuel loads, Roy and Alberto secured 7th and 10th on the grid respectively.

While a couple of errors left Alberto disappointed with his result, as he believed he could have battled for a top-5 spot, he still scored valuable points for 8th place, his fourth point-scoring race in a row. Roy ran a strong race, which unfortunately ended as his car got stuck over one of the circuit's high curbs.

World Series Amateur

Tomas Marino, Juan Nicola, Michael Pieneman, Mindaugas Giedra and Tom Aalders set the 10th, 14th, 18th, 25th and 27th fastest times respectively during the Q1 session. While Tom unfortunately just missed out on the top-26 cut, Mindaugas was unable to take part in the start. Tomas, despite reaching a top-ten spot, did not lap during Q2, as a penalty he had to comply with meant he was starting from the pitlane anyway.

Despite the giant setback of starting from the pitlane, many seconds back on the rest of the field, Tomas drove a fantastic race, overtaking several cars and showing very strong pace on his way to 12th position. His outstanding pace was specially shown on lap 25, when he set a lap which would remain as the fastest one of the race, a maiden achievement for Tomas in FSR.

Juan, despite damaging his car against one of the leaders who was turned around in the first corner, made very good progress throughout the race, inmediately reaching the top-ten before climbing further positions. He finished the race in 7th place. Michael had a great start, climbing up to 5th place, but had his race compromised after being hit. He eventually finished outside the points in 17th position.

Bring on 2010!

With the season over, we want to take this opportunity to send our congratulations to this year's champions: Roy Kolbe, Mikko Puumalainen, Dimitri De Matos, Borna Spoljaric, Muhammed Patel and the winning teams, Twister Racing, Ash Racing and Torrent Motorsports.

Faster Than Speed is now already at work thinking in the next challenge, the 2010 season! The team will be busy preparing itself for a successful season, as Faster Than Speed celebrates its 10 years of FSR racing! Don't miss the celebrations!
Stay tuned for news and announcements about our preparations, our driver lineups for the new year, and of course, our FTS-P10 challenger!

Despite showing very quick pace in the World Championship and the World Series Ace and Amateur divisions, Faster Than Speed had a disappointing weekend in Canada, as the solid Qualifying performances did not materialise into strong results. Alberto De Juan took 9th in WS Advanced after starting from the pitlane, while Michael Pieneman scored in WS Amateur.

World Championship

Agustin Canapino made his WC comeback, replacing Patrick De Wit, and delivered a fantastic Qualifying. In Q1, he was comfortably in with the 9th fastest time, while he repeated the same position to advance to the final session during Q2. With race fuel, he led the Q3 session for the initial minutes before securing a strong 7th on the grid.
Making his WC debut, as a reward for his solid performance in Suzuka, Sven Hesse advanced to Q2 on his maiden attempt, as he was 18th quickest. During Q2, he repeated the same position. Giuseppe Marconi, meanwhile, was unable to pass the first cut, and qualified 21st.

Agustin made a good start, inmediately showing his pace, as he quickly started putting pressure on former champion Hirrle and Keersmaekers. While he had a very good car to challenge for important points, it all ended sooner than expected, as he was unable to engage the clutch after running wide in the harpin and stalled his engine. Unfortunately, he won't have another chance until next year as he is unable to take part in the season finale due to his real racing commitments.

Sven, meanwhile, drove a very solid race, successfully coping with the pressure of the big jump to WC, and despite brake issues which compromised the final part of his race, he reached the checkered flag on his WC debut, finishing in 12th position. Unfortunately, the team still couldn't get a hold of Giuseppe's engine struggle, as he suffered yet another powerplant failure which caused him to retire.

World Series Ace

Agustin Canapino drove a great Q1 lap to set the 3rd fastest time and earn a place in the top-ten Pole shootout, where he confirmed his pace by securing 5th on the grid. Team-mate Martin Andrasi qualified 13th.

Agustin drove a strong race, returning to the top-5 after losing a couple of places at the start and showing quick pace throughout the first stint. Unfortunately, he was also too quick in the pitlane, which earned him a drive-through penalty. The setback did not stop Agustin, who pushed very hard and was recovering solidly, until an unfortunate error left him out of the race.
Martin, meanwhile, drove a good race until he was hit by brake failure, which left him with no chance to continue.

World Series Pro

After his great Suzuka performance, Sven Hesse was disappointed that an error on his fastest lap left him only 16th in Q1. The team was however, still very confident with his race pace, which unfortunately couldn't be shown, as an accident ended his race as early as lap 6.

World Series Advanced

Alberto De Juan keeps knocking on Q2's door, but unfortunately, he again missed out by the smallest of margins, as he was 11th fastest, less than half a tenth from entering the top-ten session. Qualifying wasn't of great importance for Alberto, however, as a penalty he was carrying over from Suzuka meant he had to start from the pitlane.

With the inmense handicap of starting half a minute after the rest of the field, Alberto had a tough race ahead. It didn't let him down, though, as he slowly and quietly made progress through the field with a heavy one-stop strategy, and climbed to the top-ten, where he finished in 9th position.

World Series Amateur

Juan Nicola was again very quick in Qualifying, as he secured 3rd on the grid during the race-fuel Q2 after being 8th fastest in Q1. Michael Pieneman and Mindaugas Giedra qualified in 19th and 21st positions respectively.

Despite losing a position at the start, Juan drove a very solid first part of the race, running in 4th place and within 2 seconds of the lead. On lap 9, he had to take a different line as a competitor went off-track, and clipped a high kerb, which spun him around, dropping him to 11th. He quickly started recovering from that position and climbed back to 7th, before he had to retire after being hit by Jamie Rush.

While Mindaugas retired after hitting the barriers, Michael endured a difficult race, as he had to drive a full lap without his front wing before pitting early for repairs, after Cooper incredibly left his car rolling on the racing line while facing the opposite direction, following an incident with another car. Despite dropping to 22nd, Michael persevered, and got his prize, as he took the last point in 14th place.

Faster Than Speed will be now looking forward to the season finale in Interlagos. Last year, it was an incredible weekend for the team as Florian Pechon won while securing the double WS Advanced title for FTS. Other successful FTS memories at the Brazilian venue include Patrick De Wit's 2007 WC podium and Christian Smirnoff's WS Ace victory to close his 2006 championship-winning campaign. An exciting track, where Faster Than Speed will be hoping to finish the season on a high!

Making his debut in the WS Pro division, Sven Hesse drove a great race to 5th place at Suzuka. Faster Than Speed newcomer Martin Andrasi scored points on his maiden WS Ace race for the team, despite an engine failure ending his Japanese GP a couple of laps early. Alberto De Juan also scored in WS Advanced.

World Championship

Patrick De Wit and Giuseppe Marconi set the 11th and 17th fastest times respectively during the Q1 session, enough to make it to the following round. In Q2, Patrick earned a place in the top-ten Pole shootout with the 9th quickest time, while Giuseppe secured his 17th spot. With a heavy fuel load, Patrick was the slowest of the 10 Q3 runners.

Both drivers had a clean start, despite Patrick being pushed off-track and losing some momentum. After a tough battle with his fellow countryman Bolier, Patrick started to struggle with his tyres on his heavy fuel load, taking him into a series of errors he never recovered from. Setting the fastest lap of the race after his first stop was little consolation for a disappointing performance, which ended with an incident a few laps later. Giuseppe had a better race, until he lost grip entering turn 1 and ended his race in the barriers.

World Series Ace

Martin Andrasi, from the Czech Republic, made his FTS debut at Suzuka. In Qualifying, he set the 13th fastest time.
In the race, despite not being entirely comfortable with the car in his first race outing with the FTS-P9, Martin drove a solid race, and in the closing laps looked set to gain a place from Yakimenko's smoking engine, but it was his powerplant that failed first, ending his maiden FTS race 2 laps from home. He was lucky to have completed over 90% of the laps and be classified in 10th position, 3 laps down on winner Malezic, but taking valuable points in the process.

World Series Pro

Sven Hesse made his WS Pro debut this weekend, after racing in WS Advanced earlier in the season. In Qualifying, he quickly showed his intentions as he was 8th fastest in Q1 before securing a solid 5th in the Q2 session.

In the race, Sven showed strong pace and executed his three-stopper strategy perfectly, driving in the top-5 for most of the race. In the closing laps, he lost the position to the quick championship leader De Matos, who overtook Sven with a rough, controversial move into Suzuka's final chicane, while pushing him off-track. However, Sven stayed focused until the checkered flag, and was rewarded with a great 5th place as a result.

World Series Advanced

After making his WS Advanced debut last week, Alberto De Juan was again in action this weekend, qualifying 12th, again missing out on Q2 by a small margin. He endured a difficult start to the race, dropping to the rear end of the field. From there, he recovered well, making up several positions and returning to the points, before eventually crossing the line in 11th place to take a few valuable points.

World Series Amateur

Juan Nicola had a strong Qualifying session, as he set the 10th quickest time in Q1, before clocking the 4th fastest laptime with race fuel during Q2. Michael Pieneman and Tom Aalders, meanwhile, qualified in 21st and 22nd places respectively.

Juan drove an excellent race, being in contention for a podium spot. He was battling for 3rd place when, with 10 laps to go, a misunderstanding with backmarker Knight ended in a race-ending colission. No reward for a great performance from Juan.

As Michael unfortunately suffered an early retirement, Tom's race was compromised when he was hit during the Formation Lap. The colission unbalanced his car, making him struggle under braking and being unable to lap at his pace. However, while he was unable to reach the points, he gained valuable experience as he completed the race in 18th position.

Faster Than Speed now moves to North America, for the Canadian GP at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Florian Pechon took the winning honours at Montreal last year, while past FTS success at the track include 1-2 finishes in both WS Ace and Amateur in 2005 and the team's maiden WC Pole Position in 2007. In 2009, Canada hosts the penultimate race of the calendar, before the FSR season finale at Interlagos!

Despite unfortunately taking no points in the World Championship race, Faster Than Speed had better news in the World Series, as the Pacific GP at Fuji Speedway marked Juan Nicola's return to the points in WS Amateur. Alberto De Juan also scored in his WS Advanced debut, after recovering from the back following a start incident.

World Championship

Both Patrick De Wit and Giuseppe Marconi advanced to the second session after setting the 14th and 18th fastest times respectively during Q1. They were, however, unable to reach the top-ten session as they secured 13th and 18th on the grid during an incredibly closely-matched Q2. Patrick started from the back of the grid, however, as the team opted to cancel an earlier penalty which was suspended under appeal.

From the back of the grid, Patrick made up many places but had a low-key race, being unable to find the pace to get back in contention for points, finishing in an unusual 10th place. Giuseppe, meanwhile, had a solid steady race, which unfortunately ended with a bang as his engine failed dramatically on lap 44.

World Series Advanced

Alberto De Juan switched to the WS Advanced division starting at the Fuji round. In Q1, he set the 12th quickest time, just missing out on a spot in Q2 by only 0.015s.

After a strong start in which he climbed up to 9th place, Alberto's race went downhill on lap 2, as he had to pit following an incident, dropping him to 21st position and ruining his planned one-stop strategy. From there, Alberto started a solid recovery drive, showing promising pace for the future. He made it back to the points, finishing in 12th place, taking his first WS Advanced points in his debut race in the division.

World Series Amateur

Juan Nicola, his new team-mate Tomas Marino, Mindaugas Giedra and Tom Aalders, qualified in 14th, 18th, 20th and 24th positions respectively during Qualifying.

Juan and Tomas drove strong races, including an Argentinian team-mates battle in which both FTS-P9s touched each other more than once. With a long first stint, Juan even led a lap before his first and only pitstop of the race. With 6 laps to go, Tomas' race unfortunately ended in dramatic fashion with a brake failure which sent him spinning off the track. While he didn't hit anything, he had to retire as it was unsafe to continue. Juan, meanwhile, returned to the points as he finished in 7th place.

Mindaugas had a difficult race, and was unable to make much ground, finishing outside the points in 19th position. Tom, meanwhile, was making progress when a software failure suddenly left him out of the race.

Faster Than Speed remains in Japan, as this weekend the team is taking part in the Japanese GP at Suzuka, where Florian Pechon won in WS Advanced last year. In 2009, FTS will be looking to desperately return to the points in WC, while taking solid WS finishes.

In a weekend with low participation from the Faster Than Speed drivers, the team unfortunately failed to repeat the race-winning performances from the last four years at Monza. Patrick De Wit returned to the cockpit after his suspension, but was unable to score despite a solid drive. Michael Pieneman took his first FTS points in the WS Amateur division.

World Championship

After having to sit out the last three races to comply with the very harsh penalty imposed for the Nurburgring incident, Patrick De Wit returned to the FTS-P9 cockpit. In Q1, he set the 7th fastest time, followed by team-mate Sergio Casalins in 12th and Giuseppe Marconi in 16th.
In Q2, both Patrick and Sergio just missed out on advancing to the top-ten shootout as they clocked the 11th and 12th quickest times respectively. Giuseppe, meanwhile, secured 16th on the grid.

All FTS drivers had a clean start, despite Patrick having to lose positions over the grass and the runoff area to avoid a colission with another car. Both Patrick and Sergio showed strong pace, with the former getting involved in many exciting battles throughout the race. However, despite making the best of his overtaking opportunities, Patrick struggled with an ill-handling car, fighting against both under and oversteer throughout the race. In a very closely matched field, this resulted in Patrick finishing just outside the points in 9th position. Until the last lap it looked like Patrick could clinch the last point from Disley's failling car, however the Australian's brakes lasted just enough to finish right ahead of Patrick.

Sergio, meanwhile, also drove a solid race. However, his long two-stopper strategy didn't work as expected, not allowing him to make much of an impression, finishing in 11th place. Outside the points, but with the positive outcome of seeing the checkered flag after a long time. Giuseppe had to retire early after suffering an engine failure following a long pistop.

World Series Amateur

New team-mates Juan Nicola and Alberto De Juan qualified in 12th and 14th places respectively. Mindaugas Giedra and Tomas Marino set the 20th and 22nd times during Q1, while Michael Pieneman was 23rd. Tom Aalders, suffering from a software problem which ended his session with six minutes left on the clock, was unable to pass the cut, qualifying 27th. Unfortunately, due to penalties carried over from earlier races, Mindaugas and Tomas had to start from the pitlane, while Juan had to do it from the back of the grid.

Unluckily, Tomas had an early exit from the race, with Juan and Mindaugas following soon after. Alberto, made a good start and was battling at the front when he suffered an issue which sent him off the track and into the barriers. That left the FTS challenge reduced from 5 drivers to just Michael, with the task of coming up with the goods. Fortunately, Michael drove a very solid race, to take his best result to date, 12th, scoring his first FTS points and his second ones of the year overall.

Faster Than Speed now travels to Asian territory, as FSR moves to the Fuji Speedway circuit in Japan. In the Pacific GP, Faster Than Speed will be hoping to return to the podium and take many more point-scoring finishes in both WC and WS. For sure, it will be very interesting as the FSR season enters its climax!

Faster Than Speed suffered a disastrous weekend at Valencia, with the very promising showings from many of the team's drivers turning into retirements due to multiple accidents and technical failures. Alberto De Juan took his first FTS points in WS Amateur and was the team's only scorer at the urban circuit.

World Championship

The best news of the weekend came actually before the start of the action, as a veredict of the Court of Appeal, in which Blair Disley recieved a penalty on his Silverstone result, allowed our own Patrick De Wit, who had eventually finished fourth back in July to inherit 3rd place, clinching Faster Than Speed's second WC podium finish of the season, his seventh overall for FTS. Agustin Canapino, who had finished 8th on his debut WC race, also gained a place, scoring a further point for 7th position.

Returning to Valencia, Agustin Canapino, Florian Pechon and Giuseppe Marconi advanced to Q2 after setting the 10th, 13th and 18th quickest times in the Q1 session. Sergio Casalins had a disappointing Qualifying, on 20th place.
During Q2, Agustin secured a spot on the top-ten shootout, as he set the 9th fastest time. Florian just missed out on the cut with the 11th time, while Giuseppe qualified 18th.
In Q3, Agustin was unable to set a time on his lap, opting to return to the pits to save fuel, starting from 10th position.

Unfortunately, the race would soon turn into a nightmare for FTS. Sergio, after a colission from Stroud, and Giuseppe, who spun over a kerb while trying to avoid running into a competitor's car, both had to pit for new front wings on the opening lap. However, their cars had suffered further damage, causing both to retire a few laps later. Agustin and Florian, meanwhile, both had race-ending spins on the same corner with only a lap difference, leaving both FTS and FTS NetRex with no points scored and no cars on track after the first 12 laps.

World Series Ace

Florian Pechon and Agustin Canapino had a highly competitive showing in WS Ace Qualifying, challenging the likes of the dominant Twister's with 3rd and 7th respectively in Q1. In Q2, Agustin secured 5th on the grid, while Florian was slightly disappointed with 9th. Gabriel Montanes, meanwhile, qualified 18th.

While Gabriel retired early, after running into the barriers following a colission from behind which damaged his car, Agustin and Florian ran very competitively during the race. Agustin was running a strong 4th, in the middle of a battle with Kanitz, when a setup error caused an unexpected early brake failure. Agustin tried to remain on track driving safely, but had to retire with increasing brake issues. Florian, meanwhile, looked set for a 7th place finish, when an electrical problem with his steering wheel left him with no car control, causing him to smash the barriers on the main straight, ending his race with only 7 laps to go.

World Series Amateur

Team-mates Alberto De Juan and Heinz Vanderhoydonck, who was able to run an extra race before joining his duties at the army, qualified in 16th and 18th places respectively. Mindaugas Giedra, from Lithuania, made his FTS debut, qualifying 22nd, with Michael Pieneman just behind in 23rd. An error on his flying lap didn't allow Tom Aalders to go through, his other lap only leaving him in 28th place.

While a steering wheel failure left Michael out on lap 2 after a fantastic start, Mindaugas had a short FTS debut, retiring on lap 11. Heinz drove a fantastic race, running all the first stint in top 8 and defending his position strongly. However, his one-stopper strategy was completely ruined after two stop-and-go penalties for speeding on the pits, which made him pit three times in as many laps, dropping him to the back end of the field. He finished outside the points in 16th place.

Alberto, meanwhile, drove a solid race following a penalty he was carrying from Spa which sent him to the last row of the grid. While the urban nature of the track played against his chances of overtaking several cars, Alberto saved the team's only points of the weekend as he finished in 11th place.

Faster Than Speed hopes to bounce back after this tough weekend in the next round at Monza, Italy. After complying with his race suspension, Patrick De Wit will return to the WC cockpit, with a podium comeback in mind.
At Monza, the team enjoyed race victories the last four seasons, with Florian Pechon winning en route to his WS Advanced title last year, Christian Smirnoff winning consecutive WS Ace races in 2006 and 2007, and Swaraj Shergill taking the honours in WS Amateur 2005.

Despite enduring a difficult World Championship afternoon, Faster Than Speed had reasons to celebrate as Roy Wachtmeester took his second podium finish in the World Series Advanced division, as he finished 3rd at Spa. In WS Ace, Florian Pechon scored points despite an engine failure, while Tom Aalders took his first point in his WS Amateur race debut.

World Championship

Florian Pechon had a difficult Qualifying session as he started towards the back after failing to set a laptime. Meanwhile, with Sergio Casalins and Agustin Canapino having to withdraw from the event at short notice, the team called reserve driver Christian Smirnoff in as last-minute replacement, with the tough task ahead of participating in the race without any prior testing at Spa-Francorchamps. Christian didn't take part in Qualifying.

A first-corner incident would highly compromise both drivers' races, as Florian had to pit for a new front wing following contact with another car, who then hit Christian's, causing heavy damage on the Rex2009eda and also the loss of his front wing. Both pitted for repairs at the end of the opening lap, with Christian's stop lasting 59 seconds after waiting in queue in the pitlane before being serviced, putting him almost two laps down on the leaders from the outset.

Both drivers rejoined the race, but were unable to recover the lost ground. Florian still drove a strong race to finish in 13th place on home soil, while Christian had to retire after being collided by Bono Huis, following a misunderstanding in a lapping situation.

World Series Ace

Florian Pechon was the team's only WS Ace challenger at Spa this weekend. After setting the 9th quickest laptime in Q1, and not clocking a time in Q2, starting 10th as a consequence, he drove a strong race. In the final laps, he looked set for a 6th place finish. However, an engine failure ended his race two laps from home. Due to the high attrition rate, Florian was still classified in 8th position, 3-laps down on winner Poniatowski, but still scoring very valuable points.

World Series Pro

Starting the race from the back due to carrying a penalty from Hungary, Pablo Tassano had a difficult task ahead. However, he was making progress until unfortunately, an accident left his car too damaged to continue, obliging Pablo to retire from the race.

World Series Advanced

Roy Wachtmeester was 10th fastest in the Q1 session. Team-mate Sven Hesse was unable to set a laptime. During Q2, Roy had to abort his lap, after having a previous one harmed by traffic, which meant that he didn't set a time during the top-ten shootout session.

In the race, despite suffering slight rear bodywork damage after recieving contact from other cars, Roy drove a very strong race, which included an spectacular battle with Santiago Niza. Despite originally having planned to stop twice in the pits, the team decided to switch Roy to a one-stopper strategy, which worked as expected, as he climbed up to 4th as his rivals stopped twice. After gaining a position in the final lap, Roy finished in 3rd place, taking his second podium of the season, after the one taken in Shanghai.

Sven Hesse unfortunately had a very short race, as Simon Smith left him no room on the entry to Eau Rouge, the contact causing Sven to lose control of his FTS-P9, smashing the barriers and retiring on the opening lap.

World Series Amateur

Alberto De Juan, who returned to the WS Amateur division, was inmediately competitive as he set the 3rd quickest time in Q1, later securing 7th on the grid during Q2. Tomas Marino qualified in 11th position, while Heinz Vanderhoydonck was 13th fastest on his home GP. Michael Pieneman qualified in a solid 16th while his team-mate Tom Aalders entered his first FSR race as he was 25th.

Unfortunately, the team endured a very tough start to the race, with Alberto retiring after being collided, Michael suffering a software failure, and Tomas also having to abandon the race, all within the first 5 laps. Heinz and Tom drove solid races, the former taking part in a great battle with several cars.

Despite looking set for a top-ten finish, an unplanned pitstop plus technical problems dropped Heinz out of the points, as he was unable to complete the last lap, leaving him a lap down on 18th place and disappointed in what was his final race of the season. Tom, meanwhile, drove very well to complete his first ever FSR race and clinch the final point, as he finished in 14th place.

After the 3-week summer break, Faster Than Speed will be racing the European GP at Valencia. The team holds nice memories from the urban circuit as Florian Pechon took the WS Advanced race win on last year's inaugural Valencian weekend. FTS will be looking forward to leave the difficult WC race behind and return to the points, while battling again for WS podium spots.

Featuring an unusual driver lineup, Faster Than Speed scored a World Championship point at the twisty Hungaroring, as Agustin Canapino finished in 8th place. In the World Series, Roy Wachtmeester took a strong 5th, while Tomas Marino scored his first points with a solid 6th. Juan Nicola also made it to the points despite a difficult race.

World Championship

With Patrick De Wit serving his suspension, and Sergio and Ernesto unavailable, FTS featured an unusual driver lineup, with Agustin Canapino and Florian Pechon driving the FTS-P9's, while racing for FTS NetRex were Giuseppe Marconi next to Robert Fakes, from Formula Racing Organization, who we thank for allowing Robert to be at the wheel of the Rex2009eda.

Agustin and Florian clocked the 14th and 18th fastest times in Q1 to advance to the following session. Robert and Giuseppe, meanwhile, qualified in 22nd and 23rd places respectively.
In Q2, Florian surprized with a great lap to 13th, with Agustin right behind in 14th place.

Agustin and Florian drove together for most of the race, the pair having two of the heaviest cars on the grid as both went for a 2-stopper race. While the strategy might have proved less than ideal, with the fuel weight compromising the pace a little bit more than expected, they both ran solid races. While unfortunately Florian lost a few seconds as he was spun around by a competitor, Agustin had a small spin which cost him a position to Tom Eley, but still made it to the points in 8th position, repeating his scoring-finish from Silverstone. Florian finished just outside the points in 9th position, clearly knocking on the door of maiden WC points.

For the FTS NetRex drivers, it was a mixed afternoon. Giuseppe was again very unlucky to suffer an early retirement as he was one of the two victims of Uysal's crash. Robert, meanwhile, enjoyed his first WC experience, driving a solid race until he stalled the car following a small spin, being unfamiliar with WC's manual clutch.

World Series Ace

Florian Pechon and Gabriel Montanes qualified in 13th and 18th positions respectively.
Gabriel unfortunately had an early exit on lap 7. Florian, however, was making the best of his 2-stops strategy after a great start. Showing strong pace, it seemed like Florian could take a very good result, until he took too much curb and spun into the barriers. While the team tried to repair the damage and fuel him to the end, Florian had to retire a few laps later.

World Series Pro

Alberto De Juan and Pablo Tassano took 19th and 22nd on the grid during the Qualifying session.
In the race, Alberto's car was hit by a competitor, which sent him to the barriers. He was unable to continue as the engine was damaged, which left Alberto out only a few laps after the start. Pablo made a good start and climbed to the top-10 before having to make an unplanned pitstop after contact with another car. With only 11 laps to go, Pablo had to retire from a point-scoring position as he suffered an engine failure.

World Series Advanced

Roy Wachtmeester set the 5th quickest laptime during Q1, securing a place in the top-ten Pole shootout. His team-mate Sven Hesse qualified 14th.
In Q2, Roy took 9th on the grid despite carrying a heavy fuel load.

In the race, Roy made the best of his strategy to advance several places, while he also pulled off a spectacular move on Stuart Fields. While being delayed by a backmarker cost him the chance to finish a position further up, Roy still took strong points for his 5th place finish, just half a second away from the fourth-placed finisher.

Sven, meanwhile, had a very tough race, his car suffering damage after being hit in the first corner and later making unavoidable contact with another car the following turn. Incidents plus a drive-through penalty left Sven outside the points-scoring positions, before he retired with 12 laps remaining.

World Series Amateur

Juan Nicola and Tomas Marino showed very strong pace as they were 3rd and 5th fastest in Q1, just 1 and 2 tenths from Pole respectively. They later secured 5th and 7th on the grid during Q2.
Michael Pieneman qualified for his first race aboard the FTS-P9 as he took 18th, while Heinz Vanderhoydonck took 23rd. Tom Aalders, meanwhile, just missed the grid by 0.016s, taking 27th.

Juan's race was compromised from lap one, when he was hit hard by a competitor, putting him down to 22nd. From there, he delivered a fantastic recovery drive, making it back to the top-ten in only a few laps. While he looked set for 7th, an unplanned pitstop due to a fuel shortage dropped him down to 10th place.

Tomas also picked up damage from contact with another car, but was fortunate not to lose many positions. Showing very solid pace, the young kart-driver took his maiden WS points with a strong 6th place finish.

Heinz had a tough race, as he had issues with an alternative steering wheel, after his usual one started to malfunction. Those problems didn't allow him to score points, as he finished in 19th place. Michael, meanwhile, nursed a heavily damaged car home in 21st position.

Faster Than Speed now heads to Spa-Francorchamps, favourite circuit of many of the team's drivers. While he will be unable to take part this year, Patrick De Wit took a WC podium for the team in Belgium as he finished 3rd in 2007. However, FTS will again target solid WC points while hoping for strong results in the WS divisions.

Despite showing very promising pace in most divisions, several accidents, mechanical failures and other unfortunate events, added up to result in a miserable weekend for Faster Than Speed in Germany. The only points taken from the Nurburgring came from the WS Advanced division, where Roy Wachtmeester and Sven Hesse scored despite tough races.

World Championship

Team-mates Patrick De Wit and Sergio Casalins advanced to the second Qualifying sesion after setting the 12th and 13th fastest times respectively in Q1. FTS NetRex's Giuseppe Marconi just missed the cut with the 20th time, while Agustin Canapino had issues which only allowed him to set a single timed lap, which left him 22nd.
In Q2, both Patrick and Sergio improved their laptimes. For Patrick, it was enough to earn a spot in the top-ten shootout as he set the 9th quickest time, while Sergio secured 13th on the grid.
In the decisive Q3 session, Patrick was 6th fastest. However, a problem with his radiator opening, meant that the team had to make a request for Patrick to be released from Parc Ferme conditions, at the expense of starting the race from the last position of the grid.

Both Sergio and Patrick made strong starts. However, the Ford Kurve would prove fatal for both in the first lap. Due to an unexpected problem with his downshifting paddle, Sergio lost control of his FTS-P9 under braking, ending his race in the gravel trap. As everyone behind him tried to take avoiding action, Patrick was left unfortunately with nowhere to go, and into an unavoidable colission with Andreas Eriksson, which left both drivers out of the race, and meant that both FTS cars retired on the opening lap.

Post race, the Race Director decided Patrick's stoppage after the incident was done in a dangerous fashion, and handed Patrick a race ban penalty for the Hungarian GP. While lamenting the punishment, the team decided to accept and comply with the penalty. Patrick will be replaced by Agustin Canapino in Hungarian soil.

For the FTS NetRex guys, the race lasted longer, but unfortunately also ended without points. Racing from Interlagos, where he took a fantastic 2nd in Top Race, competing among drivers like Jacques Villeneuve, Agustin drove a solid race despite technical problems with his new 'abroad' equipment, which contribuited to his race-ending spin on lap 46. Giuseppe's engine blew up a few laps later. He was still classified due to completing 90%, albeit 6 laps down in 12th position.

World Series Pro

Alberto De Juan, despite having a promising race pace, had a very frustrating race after qualifying 19th. Involved in a lap 2 incident, Alberto had to pit inmediately for a new wing. After the long stop for repairs, Alberto was soon a lap down on the leaders, and retired soon after as the car was too damaged to continue.

World Series Advanced

After Jorge Maenen's retirement from the FSR season to concentrate on his studies, Roy Wachtmeester teamed up with Sven Hesse. Roy set the 4th fastest lap in the Q1 session, securing a place in the following round, where he secured 6th on the grid. Sven and Drazen Cokor were unable to do so, qualifying 12th and 19th respectively.

Roy's car was unfortunately damaged during the Formation Lap, as he wasn't able to avoid contact with a spinning car. To add further trouble, he had to fight with gearshifting issues, which forced him into a spin. He later suffered another spin after contact from Hoelmer. Despite all these problems, a really competitive pace allowed him to climb back to 7th position, taking a strong result under the circumstances, but knowing that more was possible.

Sven also had a troublesome race. After a start incident, he then endured a long pitstop and a stop-and-go penalty for speeding in the pitlane. While this initially took him out of the points, he won the battle for the last point, finishing in 14th place. Drazen dropped back the order after being spun around on the opening lap, while a small mistake later compromised him further. He was unable to make up the lost ground, finishing outside the points in 16th position, but maintaining his perfect finishing record this season.

World Series Amateur

FTS unfortunately had another difficult Saturday in the WS Amateur division. Juan Nicola was again strong in Qualifying, setting the 7th quickest time in Q1 before taking 9th on the grid during Q2. Tomas Marino, meanwhile, missed out on Q2 by less than two tenths of a second despite being only 14th fastest.
Unfortunately, Carlo Willemsen, stuck with a wrong tyre compound for Qualifying, plus Dutch team newcommers Michael Pieneman and Tom Aalders, who didn't enough enough time to get used to the controls of their FTS-P9's, were unable to pass the Top-26 cut in the highly-competitive session and didn't qualify for the race.

Juan and Tomas had tough races, both having to retire with few laps to go. As Juan retired from the points with 4 laps to go, Tomas suffered a brake failure which ended his race with 8 laps left.

Faster Than Speed will be hoping for a much better weekend in the Hungaroring. Despite Patrick's absence, the team will be targeting strong points in both the World Championship and the World Series. Good Qualifying performances and a solid race strategy will be the keys to a track which is famous for its difficulty for overtaking.

Faster Than Speed enjoyed a strong Sunday in Silverstone, with Patrick De Wit obtaining a strong, albeit bittersweet, 4th place. Agustin Canapino scored a point on his WC debut for FTS NetRex, in his second race of the day, after taking a fantastic 5th in WS Ace. In WS Advanced, Jorge Maenen took another podium, joined by a great performance from FTS newcommer Sven Hesse.

World Championship

Agustin Canapino, who joined FTS a few months ago but was unable to debut earlier due to his real-racing commitments in Argentina, where he participates in Turismo Carretera, TC2000 and Top Race V6, made his WC debut for the FTS NetRex team. Showing his skills inmediately, he was the quickest FTS runner in Q1, setting the 8th fastest time. Sergio Casalins and Patrick De Wit also advanced to the following session, not without suffering a little bit though, as they were in 17th and 18th places respectively. Giuseppe Marconi, meanwhile, just missed the cut, qualifying 19th.
In Q2, Patrick returned to the top-ten, setting the 6th quickest laptime, with Agustin just behind in 7th, securing a place in the top-ten shootout in his first attempt.
In Q3, Agustin delivered another fantastic lap to qualify 6th for his maiden WC race, while Patrick took 8th on the grid.

While many drivers opted for three-stop strategies, Patrick's 2-stopper was one of the keys to his race. Showing a very competitive pace, he made solid progress throughout the race, advancing to 5th after his first pitstop and to an eventual 3rd after the second one. With a podium finish in target, Patrick kept pushing to stay away from the hard-charging duo of Mikkonen and Morris. However, on lap 52 the high kerb on Chapel corner destabilized Patrick's FTS-P9, sending him over the grass on the opposite side of the track. A great save allowed him to return to the track without losing control of his car, but not to remain in front of Mikkonen and Morris. Patrick inmediately fought back, squeezing past Morris through Club corner, then confirmming his 4th position into Abbey as the British driver outbraked himself and went off-track. Unable to re-catch Mikkonen, Patrick saved the car in the closing laps to take a very strong 4th place, despite lamenting the podium finish that could have been.

Agustin, meanwhile, drove a very solid race, battling most of it against established WC veterans. He showed great pace throughout the race, with his fastest lap being only 2 tenths of a second slower than winner Kolbe's. Despite his chances being compromised by a small error and losing time stuck behind Keersmaekers, Agustin kept it together until the end, benefiting from retirements in the closing-laps to achieve the impressive feat of scoring a point on his World Championship debut, as he crossed the line in 8th position.

Sergio and Giuseppe were again struck by bad luck, as Sergio's engine failed on the Spaniard, while Giuseppe suffered a disconnection just a couple of laps later.

World Series Ace

Agustin Canapino made his FTS debut in WS Ace, where he drove his first FSR races back in 2007. For the first of his two races of the day, Agustin set the 6th fastest time in Q1, advancing to Q2, where he later secured 9th on the grid. Team-mate Florian Pechon, meanwhile, qualified 16th.

Florian drove a strong race, showing good pace, but unfortunately he had to retire after clipping the kerb wrongly in the high-speed Copse corner, which caused him to lose control of his car, causing terminal damage. Agustin, meanwhile, surprized many as he delivered a fantastic performance in his first FSR race of the season, getting close to the leaders' pace in the closing stages to finish in an impressive 5th position.

World Series Pro

Alberto De Juan, from Spain, made his FTS debut in Britain. After qualifying 20th, he made an incredible start to climb up to 5th place. However, a highly-agressive move from a competitor ended in contact, damaging Alberto's car and dropping him many places back. The incident also caused damage to his engine, which unfortunately failed after half-distance.

World Series Advanced

Jorge Maenen set the fastest time in Q1, with Sven Hesse, from Germany, racing for FTS Advanced Panthers for the first time, also advancing to Q2, with the 8th quickest time. Roy Wachtmeester and Drazen Cokor were unable to do so, qualifying 14th and 22nd respectively.
In Q2, Sven delivered a great lap to take 3rd position on the grid, while Jorge couldn't repeat the same performance as earlier with race-fuel, and took 5th.

Sven had a great drive on his FTS debut, progressing to 3rd after his second stop, with Jorge Maenen in 4th, who also drove a very strong race. With Sven needing to save his engine revs, Jorge caught up with him quickly. Despite having absolutely no team orders, Sven had the great gesture of not offering much resistance to Jorge, who passed his team-mate to take the last podium spot, finishing in 3rd position, while Sven secured a best-to-date 4th place.

Drazen had a good race, despite being spun around by a competitior and a little mistake, he took points as in every race so far, after finishing 11th. Roy had a tough race, struggling with heavy understeer, suffering suspension damage after contact from Fields. A long pitstop for repairs didn't help either, with Roy making the best out of the difficult race to score a few points in 13th.

World Series Amateur

FTS had a tough Saturday in WS Amateur. Juan Nicola was 4th fastest in Q1, later securing 9th in Q2 with a heavy-fuelled car. Tomas Marino qualified 13th. Unfortunately, Carlo Willemsen, from Netherlands, making his FTS debut, and Heinz Vanderhoydonck, had a difficult Q1 session, slightly missing the top-26 cut, which didn't allow them to take part in the race.

Juan had a tough start as he was a victim of a long-lasting red light which caused him to jump the start and be given a drive-through. As he entered the pits to serve his penalty, he exceeded the speed limit, meaning having to return for a stop-and-go penalty the following lap.

While Juan unfortunately retired early, unable to show the great pace he had, Tomas wasn't any luckier. Having to start from the back due to a penalty he carried from Turkey, he climbed to 9th until recieving a drive-through. He dropped back many places, but recovered well, until he also picked up a stop-and-go for speeding in the pitlane during his only planned stop, the penalty dropping him out of the points, where he finished in 18th place.

Faster Than Speed now moves to the Nurburgring, in Germany, where FSR last raced in 2007. before the GP alternated to Hockenheim last year. The team will be hoping to return to the World Championship podium, while continuing to score strong results in the World Series.

While Faster Than Speed endured a difficult World Championship race at Istanbul Park, being unable to score points and repeat 2007's race-winning success, things were much better in the World Series. Jorge Maenen and Roy Wachtmeester took 4th and 7th places respectively in a reduced WS Advanced race, while Juan Nicola took a solid 4th in WS Amateur. Heinz Vanderhoydonck and Drazen Cokor took further points.

World Championship

Patrick De Wit confortably advanced to the top-ten shootout after setting the 8th and 7th fastest times during the Q1 and Q2 sessions. With a heavy fuel load, he was 10th quickest in Q3. Sergio Casalins, Giuseppe Marconi and Roaldo Racing's Ben Philips, who was invited to make his WC debut aboard the Rex2009eda, all just missed the Q1 cut. Unfortunately, carrying penalties from Monaco's Qualifying, Giuseppe, Patrick and Sergio were demoted some places on the grid, starting from 19th, 20th and 22nd on the grid respectively.

Sergio and Patrick made excellent starts, climbing many positions in the first lap. Patrick, after passing his team-mate in an intense (and for the management, tense!) battle, found his way up to 7th before making the first of his only two-stops. Towards the end of the race, Patrick looked set for points after his solid drive as he was in 8th position, but with two laps to go, his engine couldn't take the effort any longer and said enough, leaving Patrick without points at the scene of his and Faster Than Speed's maiden WC victory. He was eventually classified in 13th position, 3 laps down. Sergio's promising start couldn't be turned into a good result, as he started struggling with his car due to technical problems, and had to retire after a race-ending off.

Ben had a very solid WC debut. After also making a good start, he battled hard against established WC veterans, showing solid pace throughout the race. Despite being unable to reach the points zone, he was rewarded with an 11th place finish. We thank our friends at Roaldo Racing for allowing Ben to drive this GP for FTS. Giuseppe, meanwhile, unfortunately continued with his streak of unlucky events, as he was hit during a highly-agressive move from Stroud. The contact damaged his engine, which eventually failed on lap 37.

World Series Ace

FTS continues to be straight out of luck in WS Ace, as Gabriel Montanes had another unfortunate retirement before half-distance after qualifying 19th on the grid.

World Series Advanced

Jorge Maenen and Roy Wachtmeester, now team-mates, set the 7th and 9th fastest times respectively in Q1. Drazen Cokor, meanwhile, qualified 14th. In Q2, Jorge secured 5th on the grid, while Roy stayed in the pits as he decided to carry a heavy fuel load for the start of the race.

Both Jorge and Roy had strong races, always battling among the top positions. However, due to a server issue, the race was cut short after 33 laps. And while this left both drivers slightly disappointed, as the team was sure that both drivers would have finished in higher positions going full-distance, both Jorge and Roy took strong points by finishing in 4th and 7th places respectively.

Drazen battled hard during the race, and while contact from a competitor and a spin compromised his chances, he maintains his perfect scoring record this season as he took the last point for 14th place.

World Series Amateur

Juan Nicola was 6th fastest in Q1, later securing 8th on the grid during the Q2 session. His team-mate, Heinz Vanderhoydonck, qualified in a solid 12th. Meanwhile, Argentinian Tomas Marino made his FSR debut in Turkey. The young 15-year-old is no stranger to racing though, as he keeps collecting throphies for his victories in Argentinian Karting series. Tomas was 17th on the grid for his debut race.

Juan had a tough start, despite making a good start, he damaged his front wing and suspension after making contact with a spinning-car that blocked the track. While the damage didn't allow Juan to lap at the expected pace, he delivered a very solid drive, never dropping below the top-5, to finish the race in 4th position.

Heinz also had a very strong race, looking set for a top-10 finish, but unfortunately, his car was also damaged after being hit by a competitor. Having to alter his braking points and lacking speed on the straights due to the damage, Heinz was unable to defend his position, which meant he dropped to 13th, still scoring some valuable points.

Tomas had a really impressive debut, as he climbed to 5th with a fantastic start. He was keeping up with the front-runners pace until an electrical failure left him out of the race on lap 10. While it was a heartbreaking moment for Tomy, as they call him, he showed great potential for the future.

Faster Than Speed now moves to Silverstone, in what will probably be the last British GP at the classic venue. Last year, Florian Pechon took the WS Advanced victory for the team, while Patrick De Wit scored a World Championship podium in 2007. This year, FTS will be looking forward to a successful goodbye to Silverstone!

Faster Than Speed enjoyed a great weekend in the Principality. Jorge Maenen made his FTS debut in Monte Carlo, and got up to speed inmediately with his new FTS-P9, to clinch his and FTS' first victory of the season in WS Advanced. In WC, Patrick De Wit survived a tough start to score 3 further points with an impressive comeback, while Nick Oldenhuis took his third podium out of four races in WS Amateur.

World Championship

Patrick De Wit, Sergio Casalins and Florian Pechon, this time replacing Ernesto De Angelis, set the 3rd, 12th and 17th fastest laptimes respectively in Q1, advancing to the following session. Giuseppe Marconi, meanwhile, qualified 22nd.
In Q2, Patrick was again very strong to advance to the top-ten shootout with the 4th quickest time, while Sergio just missed the cut, qualifying 11th. Florian, with some unfortunate issues, couldn't set a time and was unable to take further part in the event.
In Q3, Patrick struggled to find grip with race settings, the issue translating into an 8th position on the grid.

After contact with another car and after clipping the guardrails in the swimming-pool section, Patrick's race started in a very difficult way. Patrick, visibly unable to handle his damaged FTS-P9 correctly, started losing several positions, before entering the pits for repairs on lap 3. While the pitstop dropped Patrick to the rear end of the pack, the team fuelled him very heavily, hoping to climb back through the field with only one further stop during the race. Patrick drove a fantastic low-key race, lapping very strongly despite his long stints, which meant in his final stint he drove 40 laps on the same set of tyres. After everyone else went for their respective stops, Patrick rose to 6th position, to score 3 further points. While the result was not the one he expected around Monaco, it was a great recovery after the very tough opening laps.

Unlike Patrick, Sergio had a great start to the race, climbing to the points in the first laps. Unfortunately for him, though, the unforgiven barriers cost him the loss of his front wing. After pitting for a new nose cone, Sergio went on but had to retire later with a damaged car. Giuseppe had similar fortunes, he tried to continue after losing his front wing in the middle of a battle with two other cars, but as the suspension was broken, he retired soon after.

World Series Ace

Florian Pechon had a strong Qualifying, setting the 13th fastest time. Gabriel Montanes, meanwhile, qualified 22nd.

In the race, unfortunately both drivers were hit by other competitors. Florian was crashed by Meglic on the opening lap. After pitting for repairs, he was fuelled very heavily to try to make up the lost ground, but as it can happen in Monaco when you push hard with a very heavy car, Florian slid off the track and into the barriers, ending his race. Gabriel, meanwhile, was very well placed, in the top-ten, when an accident with Poniatowski left him out of the race on lap 4.

World Series Pro

Pablo Tassano, Faster Than Speed's sole runner in this WS Pro race, qualified 20th, climbing spectacularly to 8th by the end of the first lap. Unfortunately, another victim of the mighty barriers, he pitted several times trying to get back into the race, but his car was too damaged to continue.

World Series Advanced

Jorge Maenen made his debut for Faster Than Speed in Monaco, racing for the FTS Advanced Panthers team. The Belgian, who challenged Florian Pechon for last year's WS Advanced championship, is eager for success in 2009.

He showed his intentions inmediately as he set the quickest time in Q1. Roy Wachtmeester also secured a Q2 spot with the 8th fastest laptime, while Drazen Cokor qualified 20th.
In Q2, Jorge just missed out on pole, but secured a front-row position, while Roy took 7th on the grid.

Roy had a difficult start, as he clipped a barrier and lost his front wing on the opening lap. He quickly entered the pits, rejoined with a heavy fuel load in 22nd position. Driving very strongly, overtaking several cars and benefitting from his late stops, Roy climbed to a solid 4th position by the end of the race, despite the first-lap trouble. Team mate Drazen had a difficult race on the wrong tyre compound, but still made it to the points in 13th position.

Jorge, meanwhile, fought hard for the race win against Borna Spoljaric. Jorge, showing exceptional pace throughout the race, clearly had the upper hand on Spoljaric in the closing laps, but as usual, it's not easy to overtake at Monaco. With only a few laps to go, however, Spoljaric exited very slowly out of the Anthony Noghes corner, and Jorge took the chance to go side-by-side to pass. In a highly controversial move, Borna Spoljaric steered into Jorge's FTS-P9, the contact sending both drivers into the barriers. While Spoljaric's move cost him his own front wing, Jorge was lucky to escape with lessr damage, being able to lead the last laps to take his and Faster Than Speed's first victory of the season in Monte Carlo.

The result means Faster Than Speed remains the only WS Advanced winner in Monte Carlo, as Florian Pechon won the division's inaugural Monaco race in 2008, in what was the first of his series of 8 victories during the season.

World Series Amateur

Nick Oldenhuis was 3rd quickest in Q1. His new team mate, returning to FTS after a short stint at Torrent Motorsports, was Juan Nicola, who set the 6th fastest time. Heinz Vanderhoydonck, meanwhile, qualified in 15th place.
In Q2, Nick and Juan secured 6th and 7th on the grid respectively.

Nick drove a very strong race, making a solid start and reaching a podium position after his pitstop. Nick defended his 3rd place determinedly to take his third podium in the last four races.

Heinz, meanwhile, had a difficult race as he was hit on the formation lap, meaning he had to drive with a damaged suspension. Things got even worse when he had to pit for a new front wing after making contact with a car that was sideaways, blocking the track. Despite all the problems, however, Heinz drove very strongly to the last point, finally ending his streak of unlucky retirements as he finished in 14th position.

Juan had a solid first stint on his FTS return, but unfortunately, he was unable to be serviced for fuel and tyres in the pits due to a technical problem, which left him out of the race.

Faster Than Speed's next destination is the Istanbul Park, in Turkey. At the Otodrom, Patrick De Wit took the team's and his first and only to date World Championship victory in 2007, while the team had won all WS races at the venue in 2006, including a 1-2 finish in WS Ace. FTS will be definitely looking forward to repeat these success stories at the following race weekend!

Faster Than Speed had a good start of the European season, as Patrick De Wit, despite struggling during the race, added two further points to the team's WC tally. In WS Amateur, Nick Oldenhuis took his second podium finish in three races as he finished in 3rd place, while Roy Wachtmeester and Drazen Cokor gave FTS another double point-scoring result in WS Advanced.

World Championship

Patrick De Wit, Ernesto De Angelis and Florian Pechon, who was replacing Sergio Casalins, all went through the Q1 session, setting the 9th, 15th and 17th fastest laptimes respectively. Giuseppe Marconi just missed out by a small margin, qualifying 19th.
In Q2, Patrick set the 10th quickest time, securing a place in the top-ten shooutout. Florian continued his strong Qualifying performance as he took 15th of the grid, ahead of Ernesto in 16th. Patrick went on to take 10th on the grid during the race-fuel Q3 session.

For the second race in a row, Giuseppe was an unfortunate victim of a first-lap incident, which left him quickly out of the race. Florian's strong Qualifying couldn't be turned into a solid result as his engine stopped following a spin past half-distance.

While track modifications compromised Patrick's promising pace, he drove a solid race and made the best out of a weaker than usual car to pick up two valuable points finishing in 7th position. Ernesto, meanwhile, chose a very agressive 4-stopper strategy which unfortunately didn't work out for him. Despite pulling off some nice overtaking moves, he spent too much time stuck behind slower cars in a circuit where it's tough to pass, leaving him outside the points in 11th place.

World Series Ace

The team had a tough weekend in WS Ace, with Florian Pechon having to withdraw from the event due to technical difficulties, to guarantee the safety of the fellow drivers, and his team-mate Mauricio Gomez, having to start from the pitlane due to a missunderstanding with the league administration. Despite obviously losing all chances for a solid result, Mauricio was able to take part in the race, but unfortunately had to retire after a mid-race accident.

World Series Pro

Theo Gort qualified in 18th position, while Pablo Tassano, had to start from the back after being unable to take part in Qualifying due to a technical issue. Unfortunately, it wasn't a good Saturday for our guys, as Theo retired early, and Pablo followed soon after due to a disconnection.

World Series Advanced

Roy Wachtmeester, while unable to repeat his Bahrain Pole Position in Spanish soil, again entered Q2, where he qualified 8th. A 5 grid-position penalty, however, moved him down to 13th on the grid. Drazen Cokor, meanwhile, struggled again a little bit with his Qualifying pace, taking 23rd in Q1.

The penalty heavily hurt Roy's strategy, as he got stuck behind the heavy one-stoppers. He battled hard and showed strong pace, but he was unable to recover the lost time. However, Roy still took some very valuable points as he finished in 8th place. Drazen, meanwhile, trying to find his way up from his lowly grid position, fought very hard and took the last point in 14th position.

World Series Amateur

Nick Oldenhuis set the 8th quickest laptime in Q1, while team mate Heinz Vanderhoydonck qualified in 17th place. Nick had a strong Q2 session, as he was 3rd fastest, repeating his best starting position, achieved in China.

Starting from the back due to a penalty, Heinz continued to be straight out of luck, as he was a victim of an accident off the grid, having to retire after only a few metres.

Nick, meanwhile, had a great start, taking the lead from the third grid box. He led the first 13 laps, before having to pit earlier than planned due to a fuel misscalculation, which cost him the lead after his stop. Despite losing 2nd to Patel after a small error, Nick kept a solid 3rd, saving the car to the end and scoring his second podium finish in the last three races.

Next weekend, FTS will be racing in the dangerous streets of Monte Carlo, in Monaco, probably one of the most prestigious and glamorous events of the FSR season. In 2007, Patrick De Wit took his first FTS podium in the Principality, while last year, Florian Pechon took the first of his series of 8 race victories aboard the FTS-P8.

Faster Than Speed finished the flyaway season with strong results as Patrick De Wit took more WC points in Bahrain with a 6th place finish. In WS, Roy Wachtmeester took his maiden Pole Position in WS Adv. He endured a tough race, but still finished in a solid 4th position. Pablo Tassano and Nick Oldenhuis took further points in WS Pro and Amateur respectively.

World Championship

Patrick De Wit and Sergio Casalins were 3rd and 8th fastest in Q1, securing a place in the following round of Qualifying. Mauricio Gomez, replacing Ernesto De Angelis, and his team mate, Giuseppe Marconi, were unable to do so and qualified in 20th and 21st positions respectively.
Patrick and Sergio performed very solidly in Q2, setting the 3rd and 4th quickest laptimes, which meant they were slightly disappointed with 8th and 10th in the final Q3 top-ten shooutout.

The race start was disastrous for the FTS NetRex team. Mauricio, after recieving some rear damage in turn 2, spun his car at the exit of turn 4, collecting his team mate Giuseppe in the process, eliminating both from the race in the first lap.

Despite not feeling entirely confident for the race, Patrick drove another very good race, taking part in some interesting battles and making great use of his two-stops strategy. Towards the end, he looked set for a 4th place finish. Unfortunately, a small off on lap 45, cost him two places in the final classification and he finished in 6th place. Despite lamenting the lost chance for a better result, those 3 valuable points allowed Patrick to recover 3rd on the Drivers' Championship, while FTS keeps the same position in the team standings.

Sergio had a really disappointing race, as some last-minute setup changes for tyre wear concerns proved to be a bad idea, as his promising race pace, which the team believes could have taken him to a potential podium, was transformed into a 10th place finish, outside the points.

World Series Ace

Gabriel Montanes qualified in 18th position in Q1. His team mate, Mauricio Gomez, took the 22nd fastest time, and was improving his laptime when a power shortage didn't allow him to take further part in the event.

With Mauricio unable to race, Gabriel was the team's only hope for points in Sakhir. However, Gabriel's race went downhill as he collided with two cars that had hit each other ahead of him, and he had to pit for a new wing. This ended his chances as he finished 2 laps down in 16th.

World Series Pro

Pablo Tassano had a very solid race, after qualifying 18th, he was running in a comfortable 9th position with 12 laps to go. Things would become very tricky for Pablo, however, as he suffered a brake failure which caused him to damage the car and take and unplanned stop for repairs. Pablo, carefully nursing the car to the flag, eventually finished in 12th position.

World Series Advanced

Roy Wachtmeester showed impressive pace in Q1 as he set the 2nd fastest time, while his team mate Drazen Cokor qualified 18th. In Q2, Roy confirmmed his great performance as he set the quickest laptime to take his maiden Pole Position, only a week after taking his first podium finish.

Starting from pole, Roy led the first two laps, before a small mistake cost him the lead. It was the start of a tough race for Roy, who struggling to find any grip on his overheated tyres, had several moments which could have ended his race. Fortunately, he managed to keep the car on track, and while not being able to drive at his testing pace, he still scored very valuable points with a solid 4th position.

Drazen struggled with his car after recieving first-lap damage, which while not terminal, it compromised his pace. He was happy to have finished again in the points, as he crossed the line in 13th place.

World Series Amateur

Nick Oldenhuis had a great performance in Q1 as he set the 2nd best laptime. His team mate Heinz Vanderhoydonck also performed well, just missing out on Q2 with the 11th time. Nick was disappointed with his Q2 lap as he took 10th on the grid.

Unfortunately, Nick was hit in the first corner, dropping to 19th place. Heinz, meanwhile, was carrying a back-of-grid penalty from Sepang, meaning both drivers were at the back despite their strong Qualifying performances.

Nick made good progress to get back to the points, despite struggling with his car, and took some valuable points crossing the line in 9th position. Heinz, meanwhile, struggled with his tyres and had to pit earlier than planned for fresh rubber. This made it very difficult towards the end of the race, causing him to go off track and lose his front wing while on a point-scoring position. Heinz went on to finish the race in 16th position, albeit scoring no points.

Stay tuned for our report on the start of the european season as FSR goes to Catalunya, in Spain. FTS will be doing its best as usual, aiming to spray champagne again this weekend!

Faster Than Speed enjoyed a strong Chinese weekend, as Ernesto De Angelis was the fastest driver in the WC race and despite a few difficulties not allowing him to battle for victory, he took important points with 4th place. In WS, two FTS drivers stood in the podium for the first time, as Roy Wachtmeester took an impressive 2nd in WS Advanced, while Nick Oldenhuis finished 3rd in WS Amateur.

World Championship

Ernesto De Angelis and Patrick De Wit set the 4th and 8th fastest times respectively in Q1. Sergio Casalins, carrying a pitlane-start penalty from Australia, didn't take part in the session. Meanwhile, Tom Eley, driver from our friends at Ash Racing, replaced Giuseppe Marconi, and qualified 20th in his WC debut.
In Q2, Ernesto and Patrick were again firmly in the top-10, being 4th and 7th quickest respectively, they got a place in the last round of Qualifying.
In the final Q3 Pole shootout, Ernesto was once again 4th while Patrick took 8th on the grid.

Ernesto drove a fantastic race, showing the strongest pace in the field, as he set the fastest lap of the race, despite visiting the pitlane one less time than the top two finishers. Although he clearly had the pace to win the race, and was pretty much in contention until his first stop, some damage sustained in the first corner, plus a 14-second pitstop as the damage was repaired, cost him the chance to battle for victory. As Bruno Marques' engine started smoking with a couple of laps to go, it seemed as Ernesto could still make it to the podium, but Marques' engine survived to the flag, leaving Ernesto in a bittersweet 4th. Despite lamenting what could have been, he still scored very important points for FTS NetRex.

Patrick also drove a very strong race. Also on two-stops, he initially struggled against the light three-stoppers, but made his strategy work by looking forward to a 5th place finish by the end of the race. It wasn't to be, however, as Patrick's engine failed dramatically with only 3 laps remaining, leaving him with no points, eventually classified 17th.

Sergio was also driving a strong race from the pitlane, reaching the points zone at the end of his long first stint. However, he never reached his first stop, as a disconnection left him out of the race on lap 20. Tom was making good progress until he spun with cold tyres after his second stop, and unaccustomed to the controls of his Rex2009eda, he stalled the car, ending his race prematurely.

World Series Ace

Florian Pechon qualified his FTS-P9 in 17th position. Team-mate Gabriel Montanes unfortunately had a very disappointing Q1 and just missed the top-26, losing the chance to take part in the race. Florian, struggling with understeer, was unable to make much progress in the race, finishing outside the points in 16th position. The team will be looking forward to a stronger Ace showing in Bahrain.

World Series Advanced

Roy Wachtmeester confirmmed his solid performance as he set the 3rd fastest time in Q1. In Q2, he performed very strongly again and took 3rd on the grid. Team-mate Drazen Cokor, meanwhile, qualified 18th.

Roy drove his best race to date, climbing to 2nd after the start and staying there until he led his first lap ever before his first stop. A long 11-second pitstop ended up costing him the chances to win, but he still took his maiden podium finish with a fantastic 2nd place, just over a second and a half behind winner Fields. Roy also took the first fastest lap of his career.

Drazen showed a much better race pace, and although he was compromised by his Qualifying position, he made good progress to finish the race in 10th place.

World Series Amateur

Nick Oldenhuis and Heinz Vanderhoydonck were 7th and 8th fastest in the Q1 session. Nick, entering Q2 for the first time, drove strongly to 3rd on the grid. Heinz, having to start from the back due to carrying a penalty from Malaysia, didn't take further part in Qualifying.

Heinz unfortunately had an early retirement, as his car was not correctly set-up after the race was restarted. Nick, meanwhile, had a much better afternoon, driving firmly in the top-3 and battling for P2 in the final laps, to finally take his maiden podium finish with a great 3rd position.

The team will be heading to Sakhir, Bahrain, where all FSR divisions will contest their races in the desert next weekend. Faster Than Speed will be looking forward to build on the solid results achieved in Chinese soil, fighting at the top in both WC and WS!

Patrick De Wit saved Faster Than Speed's weekend as he took a strong 4th place in Malaysia, retaining 2nd on both championships, making it comfortably the best start to a WC season ever for both Patrick and FTS. In WS, the team had a difficult weekend, with only Drazen Cokor and Gabriel Montanes taking points away from Sepang.

World Championship

Patrick De Wit and Ernesto De Angelis had no problems in Q1, as they set the 8th and 15th fastest times respectively to secure a place in the following round. However, Sergio Casalins just missed the cut and had to start 19th. Giuseppe Marconi was also unable to go through, qualifying 22nd.
In Q2, Patrick improved his laptime, securing a place in Q3 with the 6th quickest time, while Ernesto missed the cut by just one tenth of a second and qualified 13th.
In Q3, Patrick drove a fantastic lap, taking his FTS-P9 to 3rd on the grid, despite carrying a heavier fuel load than front-row starters Kolbe and Marques.

The race start was disastrous for FTS, as Sergio had to start from the pitlane and was out of the race soon after, while Patrick stalled his engine in his P3 grid box. However, the team was lucky that two first-lap incidents triggered the Race Director to red flag the race and order a restart.

Despite the restart, it just wasn't Sergio's day, as a first-lap spin meant an early retirement. Giuseppe didn't have a lucky start either, as slight contact with another car caused his front wing to deattach, obliging him to pit at the end of the opening lap, destroying all his chances. With a few laps to go, an engine failure prevented him from reaching the finish.

The second start was, however, much better for Patrick. Despite some expected problems, and a lack of tyre consistency, he made the best out of the situation, keeping a penalized Greco at bay in the closing laps to finish in 4th place. Patrick was also the protagonist of the most spectacular overtaking move of the weekend, as he passed Hirrle round the outside of Sepang's famous S corners. Patrick's P4 leaves him and Faster Than Speed in 2nd place of the Drivers' and Constructors' championships after two races.

Ernesto drove another solid race for FTS NetRex, battling with other cars throughout the GP. A long second pitstop denied him points this time, as he finished 9th, right behind the last point-scorer.

World Series Ace

Gabriel Montanes and Mauricio Gomez qualified their FTS-P9 in 22nd and 23rd places respectively. Unfortunately, Mauricio's car was again damaged in a first-lap incident. With obvious difficulties to keep pushing, he spun out in the second part of the race. Gabriel was having a strong race, until a long pitstop and lack of grip caused him to go down the order. In the closing laps, Gabriel had to nurse his car home with a smoking engine, which just managed to survive to see the checkered flag, taking a few points home for 12th position.

World Series Pro

Pablo Tassano and Theo Gort were 19th and 23rd quickest in the Qualifying session. Despite this time being able to go further than the Formation Lap, Pablo was struck by plenty of bad luck, as he had to pit after a first-lap incident and wait behind another car until he could have his repaired. The pitstop was never-ending, as he was stopped for over a minute until he could go back on track, only to be later hit again by another car. Pablo didn't give up and reached the finish line, albeit 4 laps down, outside the points in 19th position. Theo unfortunately didn't manage to build on his Australian podium, as he retired after an accident on lap 19.

World Series Advanced

The WS Advanced division made its 2009 debut in Malaysia, with Faster Than Speed defending its double title from 2008. Roy Wachtmeester led the team's charge in Q1 as he set the 4th quickest time, while team mate Drazen Cokor qualified 16th. Roy had a difficult Q2, where he secured 9th on the grid.

Being hit on the second lap of the race, Roy was unable to extract his full pace with a damaged rear wing. However, he was recoverying strongly until, struggling for rear balance, he lost control of the car and had to retire. A stop-and-go penalty for speeding in the pitlane heavily compromised Drazen's chances of a strong result, but he still managed to take some useful points away from his 9th place finish.

World Series Amateur

Heinz Vanderhoydonck qualified 14th, while team mate Nick Oldenhuis was unable to take part in the event after being struck by technical problems. Heinz was running a very strong race, getting into the top 5 before his first pitstop. He never reached the pitlane, however, as he ran out of fuel, ending his race prematurely.

The WS Ace division will race its Chinese GP next Sunday, while the rest of the divisions will wait until the following weekend. In Shanghai, the team hopes to recover from its difficult Malaysian WS weekend, while continuing to fight at the very top of the World Championship!

Patrick De Wit made his comeback to Faster Than Speed after a year and took the new FTS-P9 to the team's ninth WC podium as he finished 2nd in Melbourne. Ernesto De Angelis took FTS NetRex's first points with 7th, while Theo Gort finished third in WS Pro and clinched the team's first WS podium finish of the season.

World Championship

Patrick De Wit, Sergio Casalins and Ernesto De Angelis comfortably went through Q1 setting the 7th, 8th and 13th fastest times respectively. Giuseppe Marconi was unable to and qualified 22nd. The team had a shocking result in Q2, however, as all FTS drivers were knocked out from Q3 and missed the top-ten shootout for pole. Patrick, struggling for grip in the last sector, qualified 12th, followed by Ernesto in 14th and Sergio 18th.

Qualifying seemed to predict a difficult race ahead. However, Patrick and Sergio made great starts and quickly started climbing through the field, showing very strong pace on the FTS-P9 and producing some fantastic overtaking moves. Patrick was the only one, apart from race winner Roy Kolbe, to use a very agressive 3-stopper strategy. Before their last pitstops, both Patrick and Sergio were running in podium positions.

It looked like FTS could leave Melbourne leading the WC standings for the first time, as with 6 laps to go, Patrick and Sergio were in 2nd and 4th places respectively. Unfortunately, it all ended in a heartbraking feeling for Sergio, as he lost control of his car and smashed the barriers, ending his race there and then. Patrick went on to control the attack from Lee Morris and finish 2nd, leaving him and the team in the same position in the WC standings.

For FTS NetRex, Ernesto De Angelis made the best out of his few test kilometres, and drove a very steady race to 7th, taking the team's first points of the season. Giuseppe had a very disappointing race, as a wheel controls problem meant he had to start from the pitlane due to a stall, and was unable to see the checkered flag.

Patrick De Wit (2nd): "I am really delighted that the 2009 FSR season has started! I'm really happy to be back at FTS.
Everything went fine in Q1 but somehow my balance was not OK, I was really struggling in Sector 3, with no grip at all, and that was what I needed in Q2. I lost out getting into Q3, so in the end, 12th on the grid after Bruno's penalty.

The race start was really good, I had a good getaway with the new launch control system and could overtake some cars. I then started battling with Helsten, Keersmaekers and in the end Morris. That guy is not easy to overtake but went through a couple of times. Actually, the battle lasted the whole race, not always directly but indirectly because I was on a 3 stopper like Roy Kolbe, and it was the only way for me to do a good race today.

I would like to compliment all the drivers today for their very clean driving. Fair and hard racing, sometimes it was agressive, yes, but I think it's part of it. A real shame for the Hancock GP cars that where at the wrong place at the wrong time, unfortunately, but I am sure they will bounce back in Sepang. Also, congratulations to Roy for a perfect drive today, there was nothing I could do about it, but after driving 15th after my first pitstop I would never imagine that I could get on the podium today.

Many thanks to my team Faster Than Speed and Christian Smirnoff, I am really happy that I can give them yet another podium on my return to FTS! See you all at Sepang."

Ernesto De Angelis (7th): "I'll start from the best part of it: I had great fun driving this race! My congratulations go to everyone on the field as racing has been a real pleasure with each driver capable of driving close to each other with no crazy moves.
As for my own performance, I won't repeat the usual few practice story which should be quite well known, but I have to say that considering the amount of laps I had done before the race, I'm more than happy with the two points I got.
I will finish by thanking all my teammates, Patrick, Sergio and Giuseppe for providing me a precious help to be there on Sunday night."

World Series Ace

2008 WS Advanced Champion Florian Pechon made his Ace debut in Melbourne, qualifying 14th. Team mate Mauricio Gomez was 24th in Q1 while Gabriel Montanes just managed to get on the grid on 26th place.

Florian and Gabriel, unfortunately had short races, both retiring from the race before halfway distance. Gabriel was in the top-10 when he was hit by another car. Mauricio wasn't lucky either, as his car was heavily damaged from a first-lap incident. He managed to nurse his car home in 13th position, albeit 6 laps down on race winner Puumalainen, to score the team's first two points in the division.

World Series Pro

Theo Gort qualified his FTS-P9 in 12th position, while Pablo Tassano was unable to take part in Qualifying and started his first race for FTS at the back of the grid. Unfortunately, Pablo's car was retained in Parc-Fermé conditions without having his race fuel on, which meant he was unable to reach the pitlane and retired during the Formation Lap.

Theo, meanwhile, had a much better race, running steadily in the top 5 the whole race and even leading a pair of laps before his second and last pitstop. As a result of his very strong drive, Theo took the team's first podium finish of 2009 after crossing the line in 3rd place.

World Series Amateur

Nick Oldenhuis qualified 12th on his FTS debut, while team mate Heinz Vanderhoydonck, with technical problems, was unfortunately unable to take part in the event. Nick was making good progress in the race, but on lap 14, he lost grip while getting too close to a car he was battling with, and ended up going off track, ending his race prematurely.

The WS Advanced division, where Faster Than Speed defends its Drivers' and Constructors' titles from 2008, did not race its Australian event, and will do so during July. Roy Wachtmeester and Drazen Cokor will have their 2009 debut in the Malaysian GP at Sepang, where FTS will be hoping to continue fighting among the top World Championship teams while taking solid results in the World Series.

Faster Than Speed is proud to present its 2009 Formula SimRacing campaign. The team wishes to launch the new FTS-P9 and Rex2009eda contenders, while revealing the driver lineups for the season! After Florian Pechon's and the team's double WS Advanced title in 2008, and now with the previously announced FTS NetRex partnership, Faster Than Speed hopes to return to the top step of the WC podium while continuing the trend of WS success.

The Launch Video!

Please don't miss our spectacular launch videoclip of the FTS-P9 and Rex2009eda cars, prepared by Gabriel Montanes and Christian Smirnoff to present Ernesto De Angelis' masterpieces to all the FSR world! You can watch the video here:

The FTS-P9 & the Rex2009eda!

Following the spectacular FTS-P8, Ernesto De Angelis does it again, and this time, twice!

The FTS-P9, our latest beast, features a meaner-than-ever panther, setting the standard once again in the Formula SimRacing field. There are two versions of the FTS-P9, with the traditional black turned into reflective grey for our WS Panthers teams.

For the Rex2009eda, De Angelis combined the agressive FTS look with NetRex GP's colours and its traditional T-Rex dinosaur, the mix resulting in one of the most amazing designs of the entire field.

22 exclusive shots of our FTS-P9 and Rex2009eda challengers can be found here.

You can also download our 2009 Launch Wallpapers here.

Driver Lineups

After a one-year farewell, Faster Than Speed's maiden World Championship winner, Patrick De Wit, returns to the team hoping to reunite himself and FTS with victory. After a fantastic 2008, in which he finished 3rd in the championship, Patrick will be now hoping to be back to the top step in his return!
His team mate will be Sergio Casalins, who had a difficult season after a podium start in Melbourne, but always showed the performance and potential to fight at the very top, and will be looking forward to do so in 2009.

Patrick De Wit (#22): "In 2009 I return to FTS because of the great partnership we had in 2007 and the great atmosphere in the team. At FTS I feel comfortable and in this season I expect to win more races and fight for the World Championship. In 2007 we were able to win our maiden GP and this great achievement needs succession.
Last year I managed to finish in third place in the overall standings. Although I had a reasonably good year, it definitely could have been better. The technical problems I endured during the first races were resolved and the second half of the season was simply superb.
I'm really happy to return to FTS and want to continue where I left off last season. Together with my teammate Sergio Casalins I want to win some races and by working together we can put FTS high in the Constructors' Championship."

Sergio Casalins (#23): "I'm really looking forward to this year in FSR, we have a really strong team in all the series, with great people helping each other and I'm sure that results will come, working this way. After last year's disappointing season in WC for FTS I think that we need to put the team back to the place it deserves.
About my expectations for this year, it will be to mantain a high level during the season, I had my first podium in 2008 and I want to have the chance to be there more times this year. I'm pretty sure that with hard work that can happen. During the first tests with the new car I felt confident and that's a very good starting point.
I'm really happy to have the chance to work together with Patrick and I'm sure that I will be able to learn from him and score together strong points for the Constructors' Championship. As always, I have to thank Christian for his confidence and all the advices, it's a pleasure to be part of Faster Than Speed!"

Giuseppe Marconi will race his third full season for FTS, this time driving for the new FTS NetRex team. Giuseppe will be as usual using all his experience to push the team forward.
This year, FTS gives itself another pleasure, as it features a WC World Champion in its lineup for the first time. Ernesto De Angelis, 2002 WC Champion and several-times WC winner, joins the team as Giuseppe's team mate in the FTS NetRex team!

Giuseppe Marconi (#20): "I am truly delighted to be at FTS NetRex. I get the chance to feel right at home again, next to my old friend Ernesto. I want to personally thank Ernesto De Angelis for this chance, we'll work together as every year to do the best we can for FTS NetRex. I'm very happy to stay in FTS again and I need to thank my team mates for that, specially my friends and Christian for his help in the last seasons."

Ernesto De Angelis (#21): "In 2009 I hope to finally do more races, whatever practice and results I can get. It's always a special feeling for me to drive a NetRex car and the partnership with FTS can only make it more special. I can't really have very high goals but really, as I said, I would like to be on the grid in as many races as possible and would be great to be back to winning."

WC's latest race winner, James Andanson, also joins the team as test & reserve driver.

James Andanson: "I'm glad to join FTS. Thanks to Patrick De Wit for introducing me. I hope to do some races this year, good luck to everyone in the team this season."

In the World Series Ace division, FTS will feature 2008's WS Advaned Drivers' Champion, Florian Pechon, who makes the jump to the Ace division this year. While his fantastic debut season will be difficult to improve, the team believes he is fully ready for the step. Mauricio Gomez, after showing strong performances last year, will be his team mate. Gabriel Montanes, meanwhile, will drive for the team's FTS Ace Panthers.

Florian Pechon (#29): "Last season has been a very succesful year, as we clinched both Drivers' and Constructors' Championships. This season will be very exciting in the Ace division where I hope to get a few podiums. For sure, all the opponents will be very competitive, so I know that there will be hard work to accomplish. The new car is simply wonderful and it seems quite stable I must say, so this is a good point.
All in all, I'm sure this season will be a very good one for the Faster Than Speed team."

Mauricio Gomez (#30): "The 2008 season was actually very good indeed for my learning and ratification of my level. I reach this year with good performances in the elite WC division and scoring points in 80 % of the official races, with only two DNFs.
This year, with new physics and chassis, I want to contribute with my talent and enthusiasm, scoring many podiums and I hope to be in the top 5 in the Ace division, as well as to compete in WC when needed, acquiring experience to make the final step.
I'm really happy to drive for FTS and want to continue where I left off last season, and win some races."

Gabriel Montanes (#31): "This year, in my second season with FTS my expectations are higher than in 2008, last year was hard for me and I couldn't hold the level from my rookie year in the league. After I changed team in the beginning of the season to FTS, it was a big improvement.
First of all, I want to be defend the team's colours. trying to improve and contribute with setup development, tire testing and race trims. WC lineup is very strong again, so our contribution can add a little bit to increase performances or decrease possible problems in the race to get the main FSR title. I think 2009 is going to be a great year for FTS!"

In World Series Pro, FTS will feature Theo Gort, who returns after a half-season sabbatical, together with Pablo Tassano, from Uruguay, who will make his FTS debut in Melbourne.

Theo Gort (#9): "After spending most of the time on trackwork last year, I'm back for some good racing at FSR! Driving in Pro this time, and hopefully it will be a succesful and fun season for everyone in FTS!"

Pablo Tassano (#10): "I really appreciate the oportunity to be in this team because I always wanted to be part of the team with, in my opinion, the best history and group of racers. I hope that you can feel like me when you finally get to know me better."

In the World Series Advanced division, Faster Than Speed will have the task of defending the Constructors Championship crown. Featuring numbers #0 and #2, Roy Wachtmeester will line-up together with Drazen Cokor, who returns to the team.

Roy Wachtmeester (#0): "Of course I'm looking forward to the next FSR season. I jumped in at the Hungarian GP, where I had my first drive for the FTS team. It was an amazing experience, and I decided to pursue this further. Also, in 2009, I'll be racing in the Advanced division, hoping to score some points with my team, as well as to gain more experience. All of this wouldn't have happened if I hadn't met Patrick, so my thanks goes out to him. And not to forget Christian and everybody in the FTS team, they've been of great help and superb support when needed."

Drazen Cokor (#2): "After a very poor season last year, expectations are much better in 2009. Last year, everything was wrong from the beginning, and I will try not to repeat the same this year. 2009 will be my third year in FSR and Faster Than Speed. I don't want to say anything about my expectations for the new season, because I'm not good with forecasts, but I will try very hard to do the best I can for a good result, as always."

In World Series Amateur, Heinz Vanderhoydonck will continue this season. This time, he will be partnered by Nick Oldenhuis, who will have his maiden race for FTS after joining the team some time ago.

Heinz Vanderhoydonck(#34): "My goal at FTS for 2009 is to perform better than last year. Driving in cockpit view was new for me and I needed some time to adapt because of that. It was a year where the main thing was to learn.
I will this year participate in the Amateur series again, I am confident and my motivation is high. I am looking forward to the new season here at FTS, I need to say that the guy's here gave me a big support and I want to thank them all for that. I will do my best and try to get some points for my team. See you all at the track."

Nick Oldenhuis (#35): "I think with the team that we have now we can definitely battle for some race wins, but all depends on the cooperation between all of us. I see FTS becoming more and more a regular contender for top positions this season.
As for myself, I expect some results this season. Last year was really demotivating by missing every race by a mere tenths in qualifying. After a long year's work I am eager to get back into the car and see if I can manage to be more consistent in qualifying and finish races. Points will come eventually, but getting into the races is my first priority."

Comments from the Management

Gabriel Garivaldis (Team Owner): "Patrick De Wit is the team's first and only WC race winner and we welcome him with open arms back to the team. His team mate will be Sergio Casalins who we have a lot of faith in and is a very committed and likeable member of the team. We believe he will work very well with Patrick and all his teammates at FTS.
Ernesto and Giuseppe are both good friends and I think they are a perfect match as team mates. They will drive for FTS NetRex, which will in no way be our second team, as both teams will have an equal status. Ernesto is a known race winner as well as a past champion of the series, and with his comrade Giusseppe we expect them to be fierce competitors.
This will be an exciting year for the team in the World Championship and altough we expect it to be very challenging, we have no doubt in our skills and morale as a team."

Christian Smirnoff (Team Manager): "I always say that the team launch is a very special moment for everyone in the team, and I'm specially very proud of this year's. We have a fantastic driver lineup with Patrick's return, a championship-winner driver like Ernesto, and we are very happy to renew our trust on Sergio and Giuseppe. We also have a very strong WS lineup, and Ernesto has done an incredible job with our FTS-P9 and Rex2009eda challengers, they simply look amazing! Our partnership with FTS NetRex is very exciting, and we have our most spectacular launch in a long time!
I have no doubt that we will be fighting up there this year and the team spirit is fantastic! Thanks to all FTS drivers for their hard work and Gabriel for his confidence. as always."

Countdown to Melbourne...

In less than three weeks time, Faster Than Speed will be taking part in the Australian GP in Melbourne... so get ready... set... GO!!

After a one-year absence from the FSR grids, NetRex Grand Prix will be back in 2009. This time, however, the T-Rex won't be alone. Faster Than Speed is proud to announce its partnership with NetRex GP, one of the most experienced and succesful teams in FSR, having conquered the 2002 WC Drivers' and Constructors' Championships.

This year's World Championship grid will feature 4 Faster Than Speed cars, as next to the usual panthers, two imposing dinosours will also be around... the two FTS NetRex cars! The soon-to-be-unveiled Rex2009eda car will mix the striking FTS look combined with NetRex's tradition and history.

Ernesto De Angelis (NetRex GP Team Owner): "I have to say that, after deciding not to join the 2009 championship, I was really glad to discuss with Christian about him managing the NetRex license. He's a friend and a person I really trust. I'm really satisfied we signed this deal and I'm looking forward to follow next season."

Christian Smirnoff (FTS Team Manager): "I'm really pleased to announce the partnership with NetRex GP. Ernesto is a great friend and we both share the same vision on how to go racing. I'm really thankful for this opportunity and I'm sure that both teams together will be a very strong pair this year."

Gabriel Garivaldis (FTS Team Owner): "It's with great joy that we announce today the alliance of the NetRex team with ours and the joining of theirs under the wings of FTS. 2009 looks very promising, and with the team bigger than its ever been we can only look forward to a competitive year."

Anxious to see our new cars? Curious about our driver lineups? Stay tuned for our team launch, coming really soon!